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Duke riding high from success, needs grounding against FSU

By Brad MIlner | News Herald Writer

Published: Thursday, October 25, 2012 at 06:48 PM.

Duke will need a few things to come together to accomplish the feat. The first is steady play from senior quarterback Sean Renfree. Scratch that, Renfree likely will need one of the best games of his career, but Cutcliffe is confident he can achieve the extra push needed to give the Blue Devils the edge.

“Sean is a complete football player, certainly a complete student,” Cutcliffe said. “Almost a 4.0 right now in Duke in graduate school. Also just a complete person.”

Smarts will only get the 6-foot-5, 225-pounder so far on Saturday, however. He will be tasked with attacking an FSU pass defense that’s ranked seventh in the nation at 157 yards per game.

Renfree has thrown for 1,793 yards in eight games and he hasn’t tossed fewer than 200 in any contest. His high was 314 yards and four touchdowns against Memphis, but he has only thrown two scores since and seven total interceptions.

Defensively, Duke will contend with an FSU running game that will be without the injured Chris Thompson. Cutcliffe agrees with the notion that there won’t be much decline without Thompson in the lineup.

Duke must find a way to tighten its run defense, which was gashed for 269 yards against Virginia Tech and hasn’t held a team to fewer than 167 in four straight games.

“You not only have to worry about their backs, but you have to worry about the quarterback who is a fine runner,” Cutcliffe said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons on offense.”

DURHAM, N.C. — For the first time in a long while the big man on campus at Duke University is wearing a football jersey.

The Blue Devils have given their faithful something else to focus on aside from basketball and lacrosse, the two sports dominating the campus with more success. Duke is 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference as it seeks the school’s biggest football win against Florida State at 2:30 p.m. CDT on Saturday in Tallahassee.

Duke coach David Cutcliffe doesn’t need a history teacher to tell him the past in this series. Duke is 0-17 against FSU and only one game has been closer than 20 points.

That said, Duke became bowl-eligible for the first time since 1994 with its 33-30 rally over North Carolina last week. It’s created a buzz in Durham, N.C., Cutcliffe said, but he added emphasis needs to be placed on the No. 11 Seminoles (7-1, 4-1) as well.

“There are some challenges associated with that because that’s all people around them are talking about,” Cutcliffe said. “They’re good when they’re with us. They have practiced well.

“You’re a little emotionally spent after a late game anyway, but certainly one like that. They know they have to prepare to even have a chance in a game like this so hopefully we get our energy as emotionally charged as well as we’d like.”

Cutcliffe is echoing the line of many coaches before him. He said FSU is the most complete team Duke has faced this season, the most physical, the deepest, the fastest, the best dressed, etc. Cutcliffe didn’t actually say the latter, but his list was extensive and it stressed the point that despite Duke’s ascension and resurgence, it hasn’t shown it can compete on a championship level until it defeats one of the ACC’s top programs.

Duke will need a few things to come together to accomplish the feat. The first is steady play from senior quarterback Sean Renfree. Scratch that, Renfree likely will need one of the best games of his career, but Cutcliffe is confident he can achieve the extra push needed to give the Blue Devils the edge.

“Sean is a complete football player, certainly a complete student,” Cutcliffe said. “Almost a 4.0 right now in Duke in graduate school. Also just a complete person.”

Smarts will only get the 6-foot-5, 225-pounder so far on Saturday, however. He will be tasked with attacking an FSU pass defense that’s ranked seventh in the nation at 157 yards per game.

Renfree has thrown for 1,793 yards in eight games and he hasn’t tossed fewer than 200 in any contest. His high was 314 yards and four touchdowns against Memphis, but he has only thrown two scores since and seven total interceptions.

Defensively, Duke will contend with an FSU running game that will be without the injured Chris Thompson. Cutcliffe agrees with the notion that there won’t be much decline without Thompson in the lineup.

Duke must find a way to tighten its run defense, which was gashed for 269 yards against Virginia Tech and hasn’t held a team to fewer than 167 in four straight games.

“You not only have to worry about their backs, but you have to worry about the quarterback who is a fine runner,” Cutcliffe said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons on offense.”

Rumor mill: Cutcliffe was asked about rumors he may be eyeing the Tennessee coaching position should it come open at the end of the season. A reporter asked on Wednesday claimed rumors were running rampant on Twitter. Cutcliffe responded in a joking manner, but denied any early conjecture.

“Well, you’re the first one to mention that to me, and I’ve got a Twitter account, and nobody has tweeted me on that,” Cutcliffe said. “I’m not focused on any other job other than this one. We’re in a great place.

“I have great admiration and friendship with our leadership here at Duke, right through the director of athletics, our entire program, our family, our staff is very, very happy here, so the only thing we’re thinking about is Duke University.”

Record breaker: Duke wide receiver Conner Vernon needs to 94 yards to break former FSU standout Peter Warrick’s ACC career record of 3,517. He is the ACC’s career receptions leader with 249.

Vernon has 51 catches for 749 yards and five touchdowns. He’s tied with Jamison Crowder for the team lead in receptions and touchdowns in Duke’s pass-heavy attack.

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